-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Some years ago , I interviewed a pair of farmers selling pastured , hormone - and antibiotic-free turkeys for $ 4.75 a pound . They were heritage breed birds , Bourbon reds whose numbers had dwindled to dangerously low levels as the broad-breasted white -- the Butterball -- dominated .

At the time , the farmers were still a little queasy about slaughtering and selling livestock they 'd raised . -LRB- One farmer had been a longtime vegetarian . -RRB- But by giving these turkeys a productive death , they explained , they were actually helping them survive .

If they were n't for dinner , these birds just were n't useful . They were neither cuddly nor well-behaved . They made terrible pets , and were n't well-suited for life in the wilderness . They were n't destined for poultry popularity , either -- maybe your grandparents would recognize their gamey flavor , but it was nothing like the gravy-slathered protein that generations had gobbled down over the holidays .

But if they enticed enough Thanksgiving cooks to prepare them , the farmers saw a win for biodiversity and the birds . Give them a reason to exist , and these turkeys could thrive .

I thought of those birds recently when College Board President and CEO David Coleman explained sweeping changes planned for the SAT exam . Come spring 2016 , the essay will be optional . The score scale will return to familiar ol' 1600 . The test prep will be free , and delivered via Khan Academy .

And , the SAT word will be no more , Coleman said . Just like those old-timey turkeys , it seems there 's limited use for the $ 5 words we 've come to expect from the SAT .

`` Today , when we say that someone has used an SAT word , it often means a word you have not heard before and are not likely to soon hear again , '' Coleman explained in his announcement .

You know these words if you took the test , its preparatory cousin , the PSAT , or almost any college-minded standardized test . You flipped through their definitions on flash cards , or faced them in a spelling bee , if you were that kind of kid . You probably still use a number of them : `` threatened , '' `` vigilant , '' `` predicting , '' `` ousting '' and `` strengthened '' all appeared on an SAT test in 2013 .

Of course , `` bellicosity , '' `` obduracy '' and `` garrulous '' were on the test , too .

After the frenzy and stress of SAT cramming , the words become kind of a parenthetical joke , a chance to finally giggle at the absurdity of it all . Drop `` mellifluous '' or `` loquacious '' into a sentence after the college applications are sent , and you can actually stop to appreciate it -- `` Hey , I just used an SAT word ! ''

Coleman said he 's done indulging tricks and flash cards that promise to beat his test , especially at the expense of deep , analytical reading and understanding . If the college exam tests only obscure vocabulary words , `` students stop reading and start flipping , '' he said .

The redesigned SAT will instead focus on words students are likely to use over and over again , he said , like `` synthesis '' and `` empirical . ''

`` The SAT will honor the best work of our classrooms -- reading widely and learning how words work in their different contexts , '' he said . `` We aim to offer worthy challenges , not artificial obstacles . ''

But I wondered , if the SAT abandons these words , what will become of `` treacly '' and `` mendacious '' ? Are they turkeys on the verge of extinction ?

Hardly , linguist Geoffrey Nunberg explained . The SAT was n't keeping them alive , he said , and flash cards were n't doing justice to many words , anyway .

Sure , those quick definitions did well enough for a multiple choice test . `` You can pick 'em out of a lineup , '' said Nunberg , who teaches in University of California Berkeley 's School of Information . `` If you see ` mendacious ' and you think ` dishonest , ' you 've got the main idea . ''

But `` empirical , '' he said ? Now that 's a complex word . It 's got varied and layered meanings , some buried deep in history , or evolving only now .

`` Under the guise of providing more user-friendly , fair tests , they 're merely substituting one set of SAT words for another , '' Nunberg said . `` If anything , this calls for more tutoring , and more background than the old words . ''

He suspects that students might remember more from their SAT study sessions than anybody realizes , but the words are even less forgettable if students learn them through reading instead of flash cards . Regardless , the test will never get much credit ; if you memorize a word and use it often enough , he said , you 're unlikely to be able to pinpoint that you learned it for the SAT .

And if you do n't use it ?

`` If people do n't use the word , '' Nunberg said , `` it 's because they do n't need the word . ''

There are no guarantees about the vocabulary of the future SAT . The College Board certainly has n't released a list of banned words , and it 's not as if the passages will suddenly read like `` Fun with Dick and Jane . '' It would n't be a test , Nunberg said , if everybody could answer all the questions correctly .

`` Everything is an SAT word to somebody , '' he said .

Consider just one of the changes coming to the SAT in 2016 : Each exam will include passages from meaningful historic documents like the Declaration of Independence , the Federalist Papers and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. 's `` Letter from Birmingham Jail . ''

In King 's nearly 7,000-word letter , he dropped `` cognizant , '' `` superficial , '' `` moratorium , '' `` unfettered , '' `` ominous , '' `` ordinance , '' `` paternalistically , '' `` incorrigible , '' `` zeitgeist , '' `` sanctimonious , '' `` nullification , '' `` gladiatorial , '' `` scintillating '' and `` existential . '' Any of them could be called an `` SAT word . '' Any of them could be on the new test .

So , word lovers , do not mourn the next generation 's vocabulary . Educators , do not celebrate the end of flash cards . The SAT word is dead , long live the SAT word . These turkeys still have a long time to cook .

What do you think of the changes to the SAT ? Share your thoughts in the comments , on Twitter @CNNschools or on CNN Living 's Facebook page !

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The College Board says the next SAT wo n't include little-used , forgettable `` SAT words ''

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The college test will incorporate words with different meanings based on context

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Changing the SAT wo n't necessarily mean vocabulary words fade into obscurity

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Linguist : `` Everything is an SAT word to somebody ''